Kobyluck Wins Toyota All Star Showdown

Matt Kobyluck survived a wild three-wide battle for the lead and earned the victory in the All-Star Showdown at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale Saturday night, and became the first driver to ever repeat a victory in what has been dubbed short track’s Daytona 500. Kobyluck, who won in 2006, got the victory after Joey Logano and Peyton Sellers wrecked in turn four of the final lap.

“You can’t take out the leader of the race and expect to be the winner,” said Kobyluck. “It was sad to see it for those guys, but in the same breathe I’ve been dealt

that hand before. To be the benefactor at that point was a pretty good feeling. That was by far the wildest I’ve been a part of. To roll out a backup car with no laps on it and win this thing, I’ve got the best guys in the business!”

Kobyluck wrecked his primary car in a late-night practice session Friday evening after rain had halted all on-track activity throughout the day. Kobyluck blew a tire and hit the wall forcing the team to go to a backup. What he pulled out of the hauler, however, was the very car he won the 2006 edition of the Showdown with.

Rain again prevented any practice for the 250-lap event, and teams were forced to go out and qualify just two hours before lining up for the feature event. Kobyluck’s time trial lap of 18.627 seconds (96.634 mph) was only fast enough to earn the guaranteed starter a 23rd place starting position.

Though he was making headway through the field in the first 100 lap segment, Kobyluck knew the Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet needed an adjustment.

“We came in and the changes the guys made helped make the car a little tighter in the middle,” said Kobyluck. “You had to be right on because everyone out there was pretty equal, which made it tough to pass.”

Kobyluck had made it up to tenth for the start of the second segment of the race, but knew patience was still the order of the day. Following a restart at lap 142, Kobyluck had a near miss when he was running behind Ron Hornaday and Brian Ickler when they made contact. With the guidance of his spotter, and a little luck on his side, Kobyluck made it through the carnage and avoided being a part of a wreck that involved 12 cars.

“That was close,” admitted Kobyluck. “I couldn’t see anything and cars were everywhere and we made it through!”

Kobyluck continued to methodically work his way through the field and started the final 50 lap segment in fourth. He dropped back to fifth on a restart at lap 207, but picked off two cars for the final restart at lap 242.

At the drop of the green, Kobyluck dropped to the bottom groove and challenged Joey Logano and Peyton Sellers in a wild three-wide battle for the lead. Coming across the line at lap 244, it was Kobyluck’s No. 40 Mohegan Sun Casino Chevrolet out front. Sellers challenged and reclaimed the lead in turn two. Logano got back in the mix when he got door to door with Kobyluck for second. At the white flag it was Sellers, Logano and Kobyluck in that order.

“I think everyone got one heck of a show,” said Kobyluck. “We ran three-wide for three laps and we were using every inch of real estate out there. You’re squeezing up until someone gives and then you make contact with someone and you ease up off them a little bit. You’re using up everything you got. It was a blast and I had a lot of fun.”

Coming around turn four, it appeared that Sellers had the race wrapped up, but Logano had one more challenge left in him. He dove into turn four, and he did it too hard. Contact was made with Sellers.

“I saw Joey just drive in there, go to the bottom, and he was going to do the slide job. He drove in there so hard that if Peyton wasn’t there he would have smacked the wall. It’s just one of those deals.”

Kobyluck kept his foot in the throttle and was awarded his second career NASCAR All Star Showdown victory after Logano was penalized for aggressive driving.

“This is the icing on the cake for the season we’ve had,” said Kobyluck. “This is huge! We rode back there in the field for a while, we made an adjustment to make it better, and we just kept plugging.”

Matt celebrates.  (Ken Spring Photo)